Ind. soldier among 6 dead in Afghanistan helo crash

Dec. 19, 2013 - 06:00AM
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ELKHART, IND. — A northern Indiana soldier who was among six U.S. service members killed after a helicopter crashed in southern Afghanistan was on his third deployment overseas, his mother said.

Army Staff Sgt. Jesse Lee Williams, 30, of Elkhart, was aboard a Black Hawk transport helicopter with five other soldiers at the time of the crash Tuesday, Debbie Bussard Passerallo said. All six soldiers died in the crash.

The 2003 Elkhart Central High School graduate joined the military to work on computers and left on Father’s Day to go to Germany, his mother told The Elkhart Truth. From there, he was deployed to Afghanistan.

“He was big and strong,” Passerallo told the newspaper. “He didn’t let things get him down. When he was a friend, he was a friend forever.”